


Looking to the future

by servantofclio



Series: Chances and Second Chances [3]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-11
Updated: 2017-09-11
Packaged: 2018-12-26 10:08:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12056751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/servantofclio/pseuds/servantofclio
Summary: Garrus and Mely take a break from what the war has done to Palaven.





	Looking to the future

**Author's Note:**

> This is a prequel of sorts to Second Chances; for new readers, in this series Shepard and Garrus got together on the Collector mission, but then split up during the war. After the war, Garrus then returned to Palaven and got involved with an OC turian doctor.

Garrus was waiting when Melia closed up the clinic, sitting in the lounge and scrolling through a datapad like he was just any waiting patient, and not a highly decorated war hero. Seeing him sitting there mostly gave her a rush of guilt. She’d messaged him earlier when she realized she’d be overstaying her shift, but the day had run even longer than she’d expected.

“Sorry I’m late,” she said.

“Not a problem. I figured you were well occupied.”

“Yeah,” she said. Her voice rang with unhappiness she couldn’t hide. “Still sorry, though.”

Garrus unfolded from the chair and fell into step beside her. “What happened?”

“Sick people, the usual. Someone injured by rubble because they’re trying to live in a damaged building, some kids with respiratory infections, some older people with pneumonia. One expectant mother worried about possible complications, but she’ll be fine.” They both checked donned filter masks before opening the outer door, a habit ingrained by the last months of navigating Palaven’s soot-laden atmosphere.

“That’s something, at least,” Garrus said as they stepped out into the light. Brighter than Melia had expected, the sun a little stronger and the air a little clearer than she’d realized.

She hummed agreement. She was worried about a couple of her older patients, and one five-year-old who’d been in repeatedly for respiratory problems, seeming a little weaker each time. She’d been trying everything she could, and she wasn’t sure it was going to be enough. As if they hadn’t lost enough already.

Garrus must have heard the worry, because he slung a companionable arm over her shoulders. “We can get takeout,” he said, though they’d planned to go somewhere for a leisurely, sit-down kind of dinner. “Your place or mine?”

She sighed. “Sorry. I know I’ve been working too much.” There was just so _much_ that needed to be done. Too many people who needed care.

“Hey, if it’s not you, it’s me. I just have more irregular hours. I don’t mind.”

She sighed, and let herself take some comfort from the weight of the arm circling around her. He’d mostly recovered from the injuries of his last mission, at least, though that only meant his next one would be coming up any time now. “I’m still sorry. Seems like we’ve been doing a lot of this lately.”

“Mm. You know,” Garrus said slowly. “Let’s get that takeout and get out of the city. Do us both some good.”

Do her some good, he meant; his work took him off Palaven now and then. She was the one who spent five days out of six holed up in her clinic. Still: “It’ll be dark in a couple of hours,” she said, surprised.

“We don’t have to go far,” he said.

She hesitated, weary from the long day, and the days before that, but — “Sure, why not,” she said, curious what he had in mind.

They ordered their usual at the place that was closest and fastest and picked up the skycar, and Melia looked out the window, mystified, as Garrus steered them up through the traffic lanes and out, leaving the scorched stone and metal of the city behind.

North of the city had been a substantial arboreal preserve. It had burned, like most of the rest of Palaven, but to her surprise she could see glimpses of new foliage and the occasional splash of bright blossoming plants below. Life returned, in spite of the Reapers and their hordes.

The skycar curved west, over the highland ridge that bordered the city. Garrus finally brought it smoothly down on a hill overlooking the equatorial sea.

“Interesting view,” Melia said. They were close enough she could see the water break along the curve of the shore. “What are we doing here?”

“Having a picnic,” Garrus said. “The air’s fresher, for one thing.”

The readout on her filter told her he was correct. She took it off, cautiously, and inhaled a lungful of air clean enough to hurt. It was quiet, too, only the wind and the distant murmur of the sea audible from where they stood. She could feel the tension slowly leaching out of her neck and shoulders.

They sat in the lee of a larger stone and ate, breathing fresh air with every bite.

“Humans like to swim for fun, or so they tell me,” Garrus said.

“Ridiculous pyjaks,” Melia replied.

Garrus laughed. She swallowed a bite. “They can also seal their mouths shut and use their feet as flippers. It works for them.” For turians, swimming was a rare and affected hobby, generally requiring a full breathing apparatus.

“There’s something restful about watching the waves, though. They’re right about that.”

She hummed, thoughtfully, finishing her meal. “I’m sorry I’ve been bad company lately.”

“I’m bad company most of the time, and you put up with me.”

“You’re not,” she said. “I’m... ugh.”

“You don’t need to apologize.”

She sighed, leaning back against the rock. “I just can’t help but feel like we’re still losing people. The war’s over, the enemy’s gone, and we’re still taking casualties. Lingering injuries. People sick from the shit they did to our planet. Every week we lose a few more, and we’re not done yet.”

“I’m not good at being an optimist,” he said. “But we gain, too. We rebuild, a little every day. I was surprised how the forest is coming back, the first time I flew over.”

“True.” She tried to hold onto that: sprouting seeds, the city rising again, and the ceaseless movement of the sea in front of her. She nudged her head against his shoulder, until he slid an arm around her again. “Thanks for bringing me out here. Makes me hope we can have a future, after all.”

He stiffened, a small, arrested movement. Melia tilted her head to look at him, curiously. “What?”

There was a slight burr in his throat before he said, “Nothing.”

“That didn’t sound like nothing. Out with it.”

“This is a terrible time to say it.”

She growled at him.

Garrus sighed. “I was only thinking, I’d like it if we could have a future together.”

“Well, yeah,” she said, and then his words caught up with her. “Meaning...?”

“Meaning...” He glanced down, to look her in the eye. “Do you want to get married?”

They’d known each other less than a year, and she was laughing, giddy and certain. “What, in the abstract? Or to you?”

“To me, smart-mouth,” he growled, with no real annoyance.

Still laughing, she bumped him in the shoulder, making him rumble at her as they mock-grappled for a moment before she let him pin her to the ground and nuzzle their heads together. “Yeah,” she said, breathless, happiness bubbling up into her throat. “Absolutely.”


End file.
